RFP for Website Redesign: What to Include in Yours
An RFP for a website redesign is a written brief you send to designers so every quote rests on the same facts. Include your goals, what is wrong with the current site, pages and features, a budget range and a deadline, or you will spend weeks comparing figures that do not match. For most small businesses two to four pages is enough; a long procurement pack is not.
When a full RFP helps, and when a short brief is enough
If you have one decision maker, a modest budget and two or three people you already want to speak to, write a short brief. Two to four pages is plenty. You still need the same facts an RFP would contain, just without the legal padding. I would rather read four clear pages than a 20-page pack nobody finishes.
Write a fuller RFP when more than one department has to sign off, when procurement rules say you must, or when the job is likely to sit above about £10,000. In those cases a website redesign RFP stops the scope drifting every time someone new reads it.
What to put in the document
Keep it specific. Lines such as 'modern, user-friendly and good for SEO' produce prices you cannot compare. Use the sections below and cut anything that does not change the work.
Who you are and why this is happening now
State what the business does, where you trade, and the one or two jobs the new site must do. 'Win more quote requests from local search' is usable. 'Improve our online presence' is not. Typical triggers I see: the site fails on phones, enquiries have dropped, you cannot edit pages, traffic bounces, or you have a service the current layout cannot show. If you have numbers, include bounce rate, mobile share, visit-to-enquiry rate and the value of a lead.
Audience, pages and features
List audiences in order of importance and what each must complete. Then list pages. A typical small business redesign is 8 to 15 pages: home, about, four to eight service pages, FAQ, contact, plus privacy and terms. Mark new pages, rewrites and light migrations.
Call out features that change the price:
- Quote or booking forms, file uploads, or a shop, including tools you already pay for
- CRM, email, accounts or calendar integrations
- Logins, gated files, extra languages, or a blog and who will write it
- Photography or video you expect the designer to organise
Current site, technical needs and content
Give the live URL, the CMS if known, who holds domain and hosting logins, and whether Analytics and Search Console access is available. List what must be kept: articles, reviews, PDFs or URLs that already bring traffic. Ask every bidder for a 301 redirect map and a note on titles, headings and internal links. A new design that drops rankings is a failed project.
Say who writes copy and who supplies photos. If the designer writes, count the pages. Copy and photography often make up 20 to 40% of the real cost and they are why an 8-week job becomes 16 weeks. Spell out mobile layout, a speed target such as Largest Contentful Paint under 2.5 seconds on a mid-range phone, WCAG 2.2 Level AA as a goal, UK GDPR cookies and privacy, and HTTPS. If you have a CMS preference, say whether it is required. If not, ask them to justify the choice.
Budget, dates and decision rules
Put a budget range in the RFP. Hidden budgets produce cheap quotes with long extras lists, or padded quotes 'just in case'. A band such as £4,000 to £7,000, or £8,000 to £12,000, is enough. Ask for figures excluding VAT so replies match.
Give a go-live window. With content ready, 6 to 10 weeks from kick-off is realistic for a small brochure site. If content is not ready, add 4 to 8 weeks. Name one person who answers questions and signs off, or the calendar slips. List five or six choice criteria with a rough weighting. Allow 10 to 15 working days from send to proposal deadline, plus an earlier date for questions.
UK cost ranges you can print in the brief
Typical one-off figures I see quoted to small UK firms, excluding VAT, if you supply most words and photos:
| Type of redesign | Typical one-off range | What that usually covers |
|---|---|---|
| 5 to 8 pages, template-led | £1,500 to £3,500 | Limited custom layout, basic forms, simple migration |
| 8 to 15 pages, custom look | £3,500 to £8,000 | Original design, SEO setup, redirects, training |
| Larger site, light shop or booking | £8,000 to £15,000 | More page types, integrations, extra content work |
| Complex build, many stakeholders | £15,000 to £40,000+ | Workshops, custom features, staged roll-out |
After a one-off build, hosting is often £10 to £40 a month. A UK maintenance retainer commonly sits between £50 and £150 a month for updates, backups and uptime checks. Ignore those lines and year two is a surprise.
Pay-monthly plans suit firms with no lump-sum budget: a setup fee, then a monthly price that includes hosting, updates and ongoing management. The contract must say who owns the domain, content and code, and what you get if you cancel. Ask every bidder for year-one and year-two cost on both a one-off route and a monthly route.
I offer both a one-off website build and a pay-monthly plan with a setup fee then a monthly price covering hosting, updates and ongoing management. For specifics, see arlowebstudio.com; this page is not a quote.
Who to invite, what to get back, and how to score it
Send the same pack to three to five firms, not twenty. Do not ask for free mockups. Ask for a fixed price or cap against your scope, a day rate for extras, an in/out list (copy, photos, plugins, licences), a timeline with your jobs on it, two or three live sites of similar size, named people who will do the work, hosting and maintenance or monthly terms, and who owns design, code, content and domain at each payment stage.
Score replies so the cheapest thin bid does not win by default. Weight fit to the brief 20%, relevant live work 20%, process and named people 15%, technical approach 15%, complete year-one and year-two price 20%, working fit 10%. Reject a price with no scope, no redirects, or a contract with no export.
Mistakes that waste the next quarter
- No budget, so every quote is a guess
- Goals written as adjectives instead of tasks or numbers
- Forgetting content, so design starts and then stalls
- Choosing on the look of a homepage and ignoring forms, speed and migration
- Signing before you know who owns the files
If the offer, photos and service list are still in flux, fix that first. Once you pick someone, lock scope in a short contract: payment stages (30% to start, 40% at design approval, 30% at launch), a change process, a 30 to 90 day bug-fix window, and a launch checklist for redirects, Analytics, Search Console, forms and backups. One round of feedback per stage, or a £5,000 job becomes £9,000.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need a formal RFP for a small business website redesign?
Only if several people must sign off, procurement rules require it, or the budget is likely above about £10,000. Otherwise a two to four page brief with the same facts (goals, pages, features, budget, dates) is enough and you will get faster, clearer replies.
Should I put the budget in the RFP?
Yes. A range such as £4,000 to £7,000 or £8,000 to £12,000, excluding VAT, lets firms decide if they fit and stops both low-ball extras and padded guesses. You can still pick on quality. You are not obliged to spend the top of the range.
How many firms should receive the same brief?
Three to five. Send the identical document to each. More than that and serious people often skip it, while you drown in pitches that cannot be compared. Give 10 to 15 working days to respond.
Is it reasonable to ask for free design mockups?
You can ask. Most good people will say no, and you will have filtered the field the wrong way. Ask for live sites of a similar size and a short note on approach instead. Pay for design once you have hired someone.
What ongoing costs should every proposal list?
Hosting, domain, any CMS or plugin licences, maintenance or a monthly management plan, and what happens if you cancel. Insist on year-one and year-two totals for a one-off build and for a pay-monthly route so the cheaper looking quote does not hide a higher running cost.
How long does a small business redesign usually take?
Six to 10 weeks from kick-off if copy and photos are ready. Add 4 to 8 weeks if content is not ready, which is the usual delay. Build a go-live window into the RFP rather than a single date, and name one person who can sign off.